After a relatively closed Italian Game, Luke McShane snatched Michael Adams's h-pawn with a bishop sacrifice. Adams decided not to capture the piece as his king would then have come under a strong attack, but he was unable to get much compensation. Later McShane was able to engineer simplification and a winning endgame.
Levon Aronian only obtained a nominal pull out of the opening, but gradually increased his advantage with pressure down the c-file. Short was able to liberate with ...c5, but still had inferior pieces.
Although Anand-Howell was officially a Slav, White had typical Isolated Queen's Pawn opportunties as in a Queen's Gambit Accepted. The thematic sacrifice d4-d5 however was well defended by Howell who riposted the attack and was better with just major pieces on the board. Anand opened up Black's king which enabled him to draw the queen endgame.
The third round:
White | Country | Rating | Result | Black | Country | Rating | Moves | Opening details |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Levon Aronian | ARM | 2802 | 1-0 | Nigel Short | ENG | 2698 | 60 | Queen's Indian Defence |
Magnus Carlsen | NOR | 2826 | 1-0 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2758 | 41 | Quiet Italian |
Michael Adams | ENG | 2734 | 0-1 | Luke McShane | ENG | 2671 | 61 | Spanish with d3 |
Viswanathan Anand | IND | 2811 | 0.5-0.5 | David Howell | ENG | 2633 | 65 | Slav Defence |
Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2800) sat out the third round whilst helping out with the live commentary.
Here is the tournament situation so far:
Position | Name | Country | Rating (1/11/2011) | World Ranking (1/11/2011) | Age | Games played | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Magnus Carlsen | NOR | 2826 | 1 | 21 | 3 | 7 |
2 | Luke McShane | ENG | 2671 | 74 | 27 | 3 | 5 |
3 | Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2800 | 4 | 36 | 2 | 4 |
4-5 | Levon Aronian | ARM | 2802 | 3 | 29 | 3 | 4 |
4-5 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2758 | 10 | 24 | 3 | 4 |
6 | Viswanathan Anand | IND | 2811 | 2 | 41* | 2 | 2 |
7-8 | Michael Adams | ENG | 2734 | 17 | 40 | 3 | 2 |
7-8 | David Howell | ENG | 2633 | 139 | 21 | 3 | 2 |
9 | Nigel Short | ENG | 2698 | 48 | 46 | 2 | 0 |
There are 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw in London.
*Anand will be 42 on the 11th of December.
The details of the earlier rounds follow on below.
First round:
White | Country | Rating | Result | Black | Country | Rating | Moves | Opening details |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2800 | 0.5-0.5 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2758 | 45 | Catalan with ...dxc4 |
Levon Aronian | ARM | 2802 | 0.5-0.5 | Luke McShane | ENG | 2671 | 42 | Chebanenko Slav |
Magnus Carlsen | NOR | 2826 | 1-0 | David Howell | ENG | 2633 | 40 | Spanish with d3 |
Michael Adams | ENG | 2734 | 0.5-0.5 | Viswanathan Anand | IND | 2811 | 49 | Sicilian Najdorf |
Second round:
White | Country | Rating | Result | Black | Country | Rating | Moves | Opening details |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nigel Short | ENG | 2698 | 0-1 | Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2800 | 43 | Four Knights Rubinstein |
Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2758 | 1-0 | Levon Aronian | ARM | 2802 | 54 | Queen's Gambit 3...Be7 |
Luke McShane | ENG | 2671 | 0.5-0.5 | Magnus Carlsen | NOR | 2826 | 79 | Spanish Neo-Archangel |
David Howell | ENG | 2633 | 0.5-0.5 | Michael Adams | ENG | 2734 | 35 | Spanish Anti-Marshall |
The playing schedule (local time):
Rounds 1 to 3, the 3rd to 5th of December at 2pm.
Round 4 on the 6th of December at 4pm.
(Rest day on the 7th of December)
Rounds 5-8, the 8th to the 11th of December at 2pm.
Round 9 will be on the 12th of December at 12 noon.
For Los Angeles subtract eight hours.
For New York subtract five hours.
For Paris and Madrid, add one hour.
For Moscow add three hours.
For Mumbai add five-and-a-half hours.
For Sydney add eleven hours.
More information from the official site: http://www.londonchessclassic.com/classic.htm